Since about 2001, a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar has been in and out of development hell several times. (Be warned; this is a long post, not only because I'm thorough but because, in the Internet age, this may just be one of the most documented undeveloped projects of this kind out there owing to the names involved.)
In the wake of the success of Moulin Rouge, Craig Pearce (Baz Luhrmann's longtime collaborator, in particular on the so-called "Velvet Curtain" trilogy) was offered a solo development deal at Universal that focused on two projects, namely a remake of Carmen for Jennifer Lopez and the JCS reboot. An article at the time described the project as "a Hollywood film [...] that, in the style of Romeo + Juliet, combines both traditional Middle Eastern and hard-edged contemporary images evoking both Desert Storm and the British in Ireland." Pearce was further quoted as saying: "Jesus Christ Superstar was originally written as a concert piece. They were going to get a playwright to write a book but they never did, so it's kind of like edited highlights of the last stage of Jesus' life. This is an attempt to expand the narrative so you have more insight into the characters and a more satisfying narrative journey using the fabulous Rice/Lloyd Webber music." A later EW blurb revealed, from Pearce: "It's taking the original music and setting it in a created world, based on a 21st-century world." Whatever he did must have worked, because the initial draft was described as "superlative" in Variety, or at least good enough for Universal to okay his pitch on the (currently equally un-produced) JLo Carmen.
A further article at the time on screenwriters communicating with their studios by email, then a relatively new phenomenon worthy of writing about, reveals: "...the first draft of Superstar led to 10 pages of script notes from the studio, including many suggestions that were 'quite frankly, ridiculous'. [...] Pearce wrote 10 pages of his own notes back to argue passionately 'either for or against' every concern that had been raised. That debate led to an improved second draft."
A later interview with the Australian Writers' Guild (equivalent of our WGA) yielded further interesting info:
"In 2001 I wrote Jesus Christ Superstar, but now it's a bit controversial because of the war. Just the songs of Superstar together give a broad arc of the story. It was a matter of taking the songs and looking at what they meant and trying to create that world. The screenplay that I wrote has a much stronger sense of narrative than the '70s film. It is not as open-ended as that film which does not take a position on whether Jesus was an extraordinary man or supernatural. I took the position that he was an extraordinary man but mortal. A cross between Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Eminem. If I'm working alone, the first thing I do is ask myself 'What's the idea? What's the heart of the idea? How do you express that cinematically?' For Jesus Christ Superstar, I started with the songs. I listened to them, as if each song was a mini-movie and asked all those basic Stanislavskian questions: Who? What? Where? Why?
[...]
I set the film in the modern world as if Christianity never existed. The world is ruled by a fascist, technologically superior force. Visually the members of this force look like NATO with a fascistic edge.
[...]
After I did my initial thinking about the world I went to Israel and Jordan for two weeks. I ran around with a video camera and looked at all of the religious sites. I did a lot of reading into religion and spirituality. A big part of it was trying to get to the heart of who Jesus was for me. I got inspired by the imagery of that land. I saw Arabs riding on camels with turbans on their heads talking on mobile phones; houses standing alone in the middles of olive groves with satellite dishes beside them.
[...]
At the reading I read all the characters and every stage direction. Initially I read to trusted friends and colleagues - people I know who are basically on my side and will give me honest feedback. I knew when I was delivering the first draft of Jesus Christ Superstar that they wouldn't get it reading it off the page. So I rang the producer and said 'The first time I want you to see the script is when I read it to you.' The executives from Universal very politely rang back and said, 'How many actors do we need at this reading?' 'None, just me,' I said. 'Okay okay,' they replied. Then they rang back again. 'I just want to check Craig, how many actors?' 'No Mar[c], just me.' The next day. 'Hey Craig, how about we get some actors for this reading?' The reason I do this is I know the rhythm. At the beginning of that reading it was like when a really good friend is about to make a fool of himself. But they loved it."
(Spelling corrected above for reasons that will become apparent below.)
In 2009, when giving a talk in Australia at the National Screenwriters' Conference, Pearce elaborated further on his JCS involvement (subscription only, but I repost the relevant paragraph here): "Craig was subsequently given the task by Universal Studios of writing scenes to put in between songs for the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar. Craig observed that JCS is a musical, that all dialogue is sung and that the story is also the music. This led him to propose that there was material in the pre-JCS days to explore. After finishing his 1st draft Craig rang the producers to say he would deliver the draft himself, that he would present a complete read-thru of his musical. The producers wanted actors for the read-thru. As a cost saving measure in rehearsals alone, it was worth Craig presenting it himself, and he convinced the studio he could sing all the characters and the full story to them. Since that first illustrious read-sing-thru, Craig has had to submit numerous drafts and each time he is flown across to sing it solo to the producers."
Additionally, though he was initially developing the project without frequent collaborator Luhrmann's help, it's worth noting that, at the time of Andrew Lloyd Webber's prostate surgery in 2010, ALW and Tim Rice met with Luhrmann (Ctrl+F is your friend) to discuss the possible remake, which strongly suggests to me that the Pearce screenplay was still in play.
At any rate, aside from the Luhrmann story in 2010, all of this was the last anyone heard of it until 2008, when it was announced that Marc Platt entered a new development deal with Universal, and JCS was among the projects on his slate. According to the rumor mill, in the slipstream of the success of (500) Days of Summer, Platt wanted Marc Webb for director, though the studio was not especially interested and did not enter negotiations. As always, casting rumors swept the industry right after this announcement, suggesting that Russell Brand (!) was in the running for Jesus (some sources here -- click each word for a different one), and that Nicole Scherzinger, current ALW favorite, was a front-runner for Mary Magdalene, but no casting ever firmed up.
Interesting, no doubt, but I really feel, after everything I've heard, like Pearce's idea was an attempt at a better execution of what the 2000 revival and 2012 arena tour tried to do. Can't say I'm impressed, or particularly upset that it doesn't seem to be happening.
Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Updated On: 5/23/15 at 03:53 AM
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